Hebrew word · H3323
יִצְהָר
yitzhar
oil
Fresh olive oil, usually as an agricultural product, in contrast to the broader word shemen, which covers oil in many forms, including perfumed and anointing oil. Its origin is often linked to a root meaning "shine," but that connection is uncertain.
Appears 23 times in 23 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
fresh oil, shining (pure) oil
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Numbers 18:12
- Range of meaning
Fresh olive oil, usually as an agricultural product, in contrast to the broader word shemen, which covers oil in many forms, including perfumed and anointing oil. Its origin is often linked to a root meaning "shine," but that connection is uncertain.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB and YLT say just "oil," which is easily heard as a general term. BSB's "olive oil" and NASB's "fresh oil" are clearer.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It appears in the regular trio of grain, new wine and fresh oil at Deuteronomy 7:13, 11:14, 12:17, 14:23 and 18:4, and in Hosea 2:8, Joel 1:10 and Nehemiah 10:39. Zechariah 4:14 speaks of two "sons of fresh oil."
- Range of meaning
Fresh olive oil, the product of the olive press, as distinct from shemen, the general word for oil. Often thought to come from a root meaning 'shine' (cf. tsohorayim, 'noon'), perhaps from the oil's gleam, though the derivation is uncertain.
- Against the English
'Oil' (KJV, BSB, ESV, WEB, YLT), 'fresh oil' (NASB), 'olive oil' (NIV). 'Oil' alone may suggest cooking oil or petroleum to a modern reader; 'olive oil' and 'fresh oil' are clearer.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Almost always appears in the grain–wine–oil triad (Num 18:12; Deut 12:17; 14:23; Neh 10:39; Hag 1:11). Olive oil was mixed with the grain offering (Lev 2:1–7).
- Range of meaning
Fresh olive oil as a crop, newly pressed. The usual word for oil, shemen, is broader and covers oil used for anointing, perfume and so on. Yitzhar almost always appears among the farm products.
- Against the English
"Oil" (BSB, KJV, WEB) is accurate. NIV and NLT have "olive oil", which helps readers today, who might otherwise think of other kinds of oil.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It appears almost only in the grain–wine–oil triad and in lists of tithes (Num 18:12; Deut 14:23; Neh 10:39). The related word for the olive tree's "sons of oil" (Zech 4:14) uses the same root.
Similar words
Where it appears
Numbers · 1
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Numbers 18:12 יִצְהָ֔ר [the] fresh oil
I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.
Here: Olive oil as a farm product, newly pressed and not yet made into perfumed or ritual oil. It stands first here, although the usual order of this familiar trio puts it last.
Deuteronomy · 6
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Deuteronomy 7:13 וְיִצְהָרֶ֗ךָ and fresh oil your
He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
Here: "And your fresh oil": newly pressed olive oil, used for food, lamps, medicine and anointing. Grain, wine and oil together are the standard trio for the wealth of an agricultural year.
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Deuteronomy 11:14 וְיִצְהָרֶֽךָ׃ and fresh oil your
then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil.
Here: Freshly pressed olive oil from the autumn olive harvest, used for food, lamps, medicine and anointing. It closes the triad that sums up the farming year.
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Deuteronomy 12:17 וְיִצְהָרֶ֔ךָ and fresh oil your
Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
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Deuteronomy 14:23 וְיִצְהָרֶ֔ךָ and fresh oil your
And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
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Deuteronomy 18:4 וְיִצְהָרֶ֗ךָ and fresh oil your
You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.
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Deuteronomy 28:51 וְיִצְהָ֔ר and fresh oil
They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.
2 Kings · 1
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2 Kings 18:32 יִצְהָר֙ fresh oil
until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’
2 Chronicles · 2
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2 Chronicles 31:5 וְיִצְהָר֙ and fresh oil
As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.
Here: Freshly pressed olive oil as it comes from the harvest, used for food, lamps and skin. With grain and new wine it completes the standard triad of the land's produce.
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2 Chronicles 32:28 וְיִצְהָ֑ר and fresh oil
He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks.
Nehemiah · 5
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Nehemiah 5:11 וְהַיִּצְהָ֔ר and the fresh oil
Please restore to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you have been assessing them.”
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Nehemiah 10:37 וְיִצְהָ֗ר and fresh oil
Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.
Here: Newly pressed olive oil as farm produce. With tirosh it names the vine and olive harvests, whose first portions belonged to the priests (Numbers 18:12).
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Nehemiah 10:39 וְהַיִּצְהָר֒ and the fresh oil
For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers stay. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.”
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Nehemiah 13:5 וְהַיִּצְהָ֔ר and the fresh oil
and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.
Here: Freshly pressed olive oil, the third item of the trio. Together the three stand for the whole agricultural yield of the land.
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Nehemiah 13:12 וְהַיִּצְהָ֖ר and the fresh oil
and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms.
Jeremiah · 1
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Jeremiah 31:12 יִצְהָ֔ר fresh oil
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.
Here: Freshly pressed olive oil, used for food, light, skin care and anointing. The word likely comes from a root meaning 'to shine', for the oil's glisten. Third item of the triad.
Hosea · 2
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Hosea 2:8 וְהַיִּצְהָ֑ר and the fresh oil
For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.
Here: "And the fresh oil": newly pressed olive oil, used for food, lamps, skin care and medicine. It is the third of the three. Together, the set means everything the farming year produces.
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Hosea 2:22 הַיִּצְהָ֑ר the fresh oil
And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.
Joel · 3
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Joel 1:10 יִצְהָֽר׃ [the] fresh oil
The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.
Here: Newly pressed olive oil, used for food, lamps, skin and anointing, and mixed into the grain offering. Third of the three staples; the verse ends on its failure.
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Joel 2:19 וְהַיִּצְהָ֔ר and <the> fresh oil
And the LORD answered His people: “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and by them you will be satisfied. I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.
Here: "And the fresh oil." Newly pressed olive oil, used in food, lamps, skin care and offerings. 1:10 said it had "failed". It is the third crop of the three.
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Joel 2:24 וְיִצְהָֽר׃ and fresh oil
The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
Haggai · 1
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Haggai 1:11 הַיִּצְהָ֔ר the fresh oil
I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Here: Newly pressed olive oil, used for food, lamps, medicine and anointing. Grain, wine and oil together make up the familiar triad of covenant blessing.
Zechariah · 1
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Zechariah 4:14 הַיִּצְהָ֑ר the fresh oil
So he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing beside the Lord of all the earth.”
Here: Fresh olive oil as a farm product, the word used in the stock phrase 'grain, new wine and fresh oil'. It is not the usual word for anointing oil (shemen). The picture is oil streaming from the trees into the lamp, so these figures are the source and channel of the oil, and the oil stands for fertility, blessing and supply.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.